subject: Coping With Hiv: Tips To Stay Healthier Longer [print this page] It is not easy for anyone to be diagnosed with a deadly and serious health problem. The diagnosis will lead to many feelings, both emotional and mental, and patients need all the help they can get to cope with these feelings and their diagnosis. Being diagnosed with HIV or AIDS is something which is dreaded by every human being. Human Immunodeficiency Virus diagnosis is serious and AIDS is in actuality the final stage of HIV.
It cannot be denied that it must be devastating to be diagnosed with HIV. Many people diagnosed with the virus assume that they will get AIDS and eventually die in a few years. If you have been diagnosed with HIV then you should ensure that you have a solid support system around you. You will need the emotional and social support of your family members, loved ones and close friends. For people around you to be supportive they should understand all about HIV and also about AIDS. Educating yourself and others around you as to why the virus exists in the first place, how it is contracted, and how it is not contracted are all things that people should learn.
First and foremost, you should understand that all human beings are afraid of dying. Death is inevitable and even then there is a great fear of it. That is why people may distance themselves from you. They may fear that they may contract the virus and thus keep away to protect themselves. That is why it becomes important for people to be educated about the facts and myths when it comes to HIV and AIDS. People should learn that the virus can only be contracted in certain ways and there is no harm in being around, or living with, a person who has been diagnosed with the virus.
People who know that you have acquired the deadly virus will realize that you will eventually die and they may try to separate themselves from you for this very reason. This separation may be a defense mechanism to protect their own emotional wellbeing because they know they will experience emotional hurt if they have to lose you. Patients as well as family members of patients diagnosed with HIV should join support groups. There are many support groups today that disseminate the right kind of information about HIV and AIDS. They also teach the caregivers of patients and those living with them to deal with patients, how to cope with their feelings of anxiety, and how to cope with their own fear of losing their loved one to the disease.
HIV patients are often discriminated against, and in some societies, they are even considered outcasts. This kind of treatment is very inhumane and cruel, and it all happens because of ignorance. The people who discriminate against patients with HIV do not realize that they are suffering, and by giving them a little bit of love and understanding, they are actually giving them a glimmer of hope to fight for their lives.
